Game apparatus.



Y. 'YAMAMOTO.

GAME APPARATUS.

' APPLICATION FILED SEPT-7 INVENTORZ ATTORNEY,

Y. YAMAMOTO.

GAME APPARATUS.

APPLICATION men SEPT-7.1916.

1,214,252. Patented Jan.30,1917.

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YUKINOBU YAMAMOTO, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

GAME APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 35 191?.

Application filed-September 7, 1916. Serial No. 118,815.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, YUKINOBU YAMA- MOTO, a subject of the Emperor ofJapan, residing at the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Game Apparatus, of whichthe following is a specification, reference being had therein to theaccompanying drawings.

This invention relates to game apparatus and has for its object toprovide a game designed to be played on a table or alley by means of amanually projected ball adapted to travel along the table and bycontacting therewith cause one or more of a series of contact members orpaddles to disappear from view, thereby registering a predeterminednumber of points with each throw or operation of the balls.

Other and further objects will be in part described and in part apparentas the description is proceeded with.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a top plan view showing twogame apparatus side by side; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a singleapparatus; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view; Fig. 4 is a frontelevation of the box; Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 5-5 Fig. 1;Fig. 6 is a detail view of the spring held rock bar; Fig. 7 is a detailview of one of the spring catches; and Fig. 8 is a detail view of one ofthe counters.

Referring more particularly to the drawings in which like referencenumerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,numeral 1 designates a table or alley comprising front and rearsupporting legs 2 and 3, respectively, intermediate Supporting legs aand a top 5. The top 5 which is cut away at its rear end as at 6 toprovide an opening 7 is substantially horizontal but preferably inclinedslightly from front to rear for the obvious purpose of facilitating thetravel of balls or other projectiles thereover.

Suitably supported between the front and intermediate legs substantiallyparallel with and spaced from the top 5 is a forwardly inclinedpartition or runway 8, the rear end of which is flush with a downwardly.and forwardly inclined partition or runway 9 arranged directly beneaththe opening 7 for a purpose hereinafter described. The partition orrunway 9 extends between and is suitably connected to the rear andintermediate legs in any convenient manner.

An open-bottomed box-like structure 10 comprising ends 11, rear wall 12,top 18 and shelf it rests upon and is removably supported by the tableor alley 1 directly over and in communication with the opening 7 A.vertical partition 56 extends from the rear wall 12 to a front wall 15thus providing two drawer openings 16 for the reception of drawers 17.lhe purpose of the drawers is to receive and contain the balls 20 whenthe latter are not in use. Access may be had to these drawers byswinging the extension 18 of the rear wall 12 downwardly upon its hinges19 as will be readily understood from an inspection of Figs. 2 and 3.

It will be noted that the front wall, which is of substantially the samedimensions as the drawer opening 15 serves the double purpose f closingthe front of these openings and also for presenting upon the front facethereof suitable characters 21 for scoring purposes. The marginal edgesof the wall 15 may be provided with a beading 22 for the purpose ofadding to the appearance of the device, while a beading 25 extendingbetween the ends 11 and along the front edges thereof serves a similarpurpose.

A plurality of depending contact members or paddles 23, one for eachcharacter 21, pivoted at their upper ends by means of hinges 24; to theupper cross bar 51 of beading 25, are adapted to swing within the openspace 40 in the bottom portion of the box 10, in the arc of a circlebetween the lower cross bar 52 of beading 25 and the shelf 14.

In practice the player who preferably stands at the front end of thetable 1 projects a ball 20 down the inclined table top 5 toward thepaddles 23, the object being to strike one or more of these paddles theends of which when struck, will be caused to move inwardly and upwardlyby virtue of their hinged connections. As the ball passes over the heador strip on the table top 5, the ball is caused to jump or rise as it isprojected against the paddles. For every paddle thus moved to scoringposition the player receives credit on his score for the number ofpoints indicated by the particular character or characters 21 above thepaddle or paddles successfully struck.

Means is provided for retaining the paddles in their uptilted or scoringposition and out of the line of vision of the player comprising atransversely extending rectangular rocking bar 26 supported from theshelf 14 by means of hinges 27 and normally maintained with its upperface flush with the shelf by means of a spring 57. Attached to theforward face of this bar and in the arc of the circle described by thefree ends of the paddles is a plurality of resilient catches 29, one foreach paddle. These catches comprise a fixed part 30 having outstandinglugs 31 and a movable member 32 having apertured cars 83, the two partsbeing pivotally connected together by means of a pin 34 passing throughthe ears and lugs. The movable part 32 is normally maintained in aforwardly and upwardly inclined position (best shown in Fig. 7) by meansof a coiled spring (not shown). When the free ends of the paddle strikethe inclined faces of pivoted part 32 they force said part inwardlyagainst the tension of the coil spring (not shown) until the ends of thepaddles pass over the upper extremity 35 of the part 32 whereupon thelatter springs back beneath the ends of the paddles thus locking thepaddles in elevated or scoring position.

When the player has thrown all the balls to which he is entitled theattendant totals the characters above those spaces normally occupied bythe paddles which have been uptilted, giving the player correspondingcredit therefor. (It may here be noted that the employment ofdisappearing paddles greatly facilitates the reading of. the score bothby the player and attendant, as will be readily understood). The paddlesare then returned to normal or vertical position by means of a cord,rope Or the like 36 secured intermediate its ends to an eye 37, which inturn is secured to the bar 26. The free ends of the cord or rope passaround a pulley 58 secured to the partition 14 of the box-like structure10, then out through the end walls 11 and to the front end of the table1 in a convenient position to be grasped by an attendant positionedbetween two of the tables. A. slight pull exerted upon either or bothends of the cord or rope is communicated through the pulley 58 and eye37 to the rocking bar, causing the latter to tilt rearwardly and therebywithdrawing the upper ends of the pivoted part 32 from beneath the freeend of the paddles. The paddles will then return by force of gravity to7 normal position.

It is to be understood that a single apparatusmay be used, as forinstance in the inner face of the rear wall of the box 1 and drop downthrough the opening 7 onto the V inclined partition or runway 9 downwhich they will roll to the front end of the table in convenientposition to be again used.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and 'manyapparent widely different embodiments of my invention, within the scopeof the claims constructed without departing from the spirit or scopethereof, it is intended'that all matters contained in the accompanyingspecification and drawings shall be interpretedas' illustrative and notin a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In a game apparatus a table having an opening therein, anopen-bottomed box-like structure mounted upon said table over saidopening, said box like structure comprising end walls and front and rearwalls, said front wall having an opening therein, a shelf between theend walls and above the opening in the front. wall, a partitiondividingsaid shelf, forming drawer openings, drawers within said openings andmeans for gaining access to the drawers through said rear wall, aplurality of hinged contact members depending within the opening withinthe front wall, a plurality of characters on the front face of the frontwall arranged above the contact members, one for each contact member, arocking bar hinged to the bottom of said shelf, a plurality of springcatches carried by said bar, one for each contact member, said resilientcatches comprising a fixed portion and a movable portion pivotallyconnected together, said movable portion presenting an inclined face inthe arc of the circle described by the free ends of said contact memberswhen said contact members are swung inwardly and upwardly under theimpact of a ball orthe like whereby the ends of said contact meinbersride over said inclined face and are locked and means for simultaneouslyreleas ing said contact members.

2. In a game apparatus the combination' of a table, a box like structuresupported at one end of said table, said box like structure havingafront wall with an opening formed therein, a plurality of contactmembers hingedly mounted at their upper ends within said openings andnormally maintained by force of gravity in a depending position, thefree ends of said contact members being adapted to swingupwardly in thearc of a circle when struck by a ball I to permit passage of the freeends of said contact members thereabove and to automatically lock saidcontact members in such elevated position and means adjacent the frontend of vsaid table for actuating said rocking bar to release saidcontact members. 1 In testimony whereof I hereunto afiiX my signature.

YUKINOBU YAMAMOTO.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe "Commissioner of latents. Washington, D. G.

